Lord Voldemort bio

Name: Tom Riddle (aka Lord Voldemort).

Age: 71 by the end of the 7th book

House: Slytherin

Distinguishing Features: Once a tall, handsome man with jet-black hair, Voldemort lost his body when he failed to kill Harry Potter and his Avada Kedavra curse rebounded on him. Nearly 14 years later, he finally regained a permanent physical form through a complex ritual of his own devising. It is not his original body, however. He is now thin and snake-like with unnaturally white skin, wide scarlet eyes and slits for nostrils.

Heritage: Half-Blood.

Family: Son of a Muggle father, Tom Riddle Snr, and a witch mother, the last direct descendent of Salazar Slytherin. His father left his mother when he found out she was a witch (this occurred while she was pregnant with Tom). His mother died shortly after giving birth. Tom returned later and killed his immediate Riddle relatives.

First Mention: Chapter One of The Sorcerer's Stone.

General: After the death of his mother, having been disowned by his father before he was even born, Tom was brought up in a Muggle orphanage. It is unclear when and how he found out about his heritage, but by the time he was nearing the higher years at Hogwarts, he had already developed into the most able pupil the school had ever known, whilst at the same time nurturing a festering contempt for all people except pure-blood wizards (which is somewhat hypocritical as he is a half-blood himself).

He successfully hid the seedier parts of his personality from those in authority, however, and became Head Boy of the school, with at least one award to show for his efforts. Ironically, this was received for framing another student for opening the Chamber of Secrets, when it was in fact Tom himself who had done it.

By this time, Tom was revelling in his status as the Heir of Slytherin, and he created a new name for his supporters to call him: Lord Voldemort. He left Hogwarts with none of the staff (with the possible exception of the Transfiguration teacher, one Albus Dumbledore) any the wiser, and began to travel (stopping off only to kill his family), all the time seriously immersing himself in the Dark Arts.

It was many years later that Lord Voldemort returned to public view, ready in his mind to make himself the king of the wizards and to bring about the glorious vision of Salazar Slytherin – a world where pure-bloods ruled and lesser men were crushed underfoot. He gathered himself an army of supporters, called them his Death Eaters, and set about trying to gain control.

The Order of the Phoenix rose against him, and war began. But it was Voldemort himself who would bring about his own downfall. He heard of a prophecy which stated that a wizard had been born who would grow to have the power to destroy him. Acting on the advice of Peter Pettigrew, his spy within the Order, he moved quickly to kill the boy whilst he was still a baby. What happened then is well-known – the boy, Harry Potter, was not destroyed, and Voldemort’s curse rebounded on him, all but killing him instead.

Now nothing more than spirit, Voldemort went into hiding in the forests of Albania for 14 years, surviving by inhabiting the bodies of small animals. In all that time he left only once, when he took over the body of the Hogwarts teacher Professor Quirrell in an attempt to regain his power. That attempt failed, however, and he returned into hiding.

Finally, however, salvation was at hand. His old supporter Pettigrew tracked him down and brought him his wand, allowing Voldemort to return to England and to make plans to regain a body. This he did in the summer of 1995, and having regrouped his remaining loyal followers, his second assault on the wizarding world began.